The Slain Yet Victorious Lamb

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry & Bluemont Churches
Revelation 5
August 3, 2025

Yale Divinity School’s famous Beecher lectures, given by Frederick Buechner, were published in a little book titled, Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, & Fairy Tale. Some might take offense at the title, but it makes sense. As tragedy, the gospel begins with the crucifixion. As comedy, the reversal from death to life fits the classic understanding of the word. And as fairytale, we have the extraordinary things that happen to Jesus and his followers down to this day.^[1]

In the text we’re looking at today, we see a bit of all three: tragedy, comedy and fairytale. We’ll see it in the resurrection lamb. As tragedy, the lamb was slain. As comedy and fairytale, the lamb lives and is all powerful. 

Lambs and Sheep play a key role in scripture. The Patriarchs herded sheep. The blood of lambs marked Israel safe during the night of Passover. David ruled as the shepherd king. The shepherds greeted the infant Jesus in Bethlehem. And Jesus, the good shepherd, becomes the sacrificial lamb. He died that we might live yet lives and offers us life eternal. Lambs and sheep are often seen as docile and meek. Perhaps this is why they were used in sacrifices. But the sacrificed lamb is victorious and in him we have hope. 

Before reading the Scriptures:  

We’ll finish our tour through the first five chapters of Revelation today. If enough people show interested, I’d be more than glad to run a Bible study on the rest of the book in the fall. So let me know. Next week, I’ll move on to other texts for my sermons. 

As I pointed out last week, the fourth and fifth chapters of Revelation envision heavenly worship. In the fourth chapter, the focused on the throne. John hears hymns around the throne praising the Almighty. In the fifth chapter, a scroll is introduced as well as the slain lamb who lives. Last week we learned the word “Throne” occurs 40 times in Revelation.^[2] The “Lamb of God,” is another of the book’s favorite phrases. Introduced in the fifth chapter, the phrase occurs 28 times in the remaining 17 chapters of the Book of Revelation!^[3] Let’s look at what John witnessed. 

Read Revelation 5:

The scroll and the lamb are the focus of the fifth chapter. Frst century Christians would understand a scroll as scripture.^[4]Sealed with seven seals, it contains God’s plan. But there’s no one worthy to open the seals. 

This brings tears to John’s eyes. For you see, without opening the scroll (without moving into God’s future) the powers of evil who have thrown themselves against the godly and have persecuted the church will prevail.

John’s vision comes at a perilous time for the continued existence of the church. Persecution threatens. John, himself, exiled to a deserted rocky island because of his faith in Jesus Christ, could have been killed.^[5] But there, on those rocky shores with the sound of lapping waves, John’s vison fills the sky. He’s reminded of the truth. God will be victorious. 

It might not have looked that way when the Romans sent John into exile on this rocky island. Nor did it look that way at daybreak on the first Easter when the women make their way to the tomb to prepare Jesus’ body for the grave. It may not look that way for some of us today, who are troubled by what’s happening in our world. But God has a way of surprising us!

One of the elders standing near God’s throne points out there is, after all, one who can open the scroll. I should point out here that time in Revelation isn’t neat and chronological as we like. At the point there was no one worthy probably refers to the time before Jesus’ death. Seeing the condition of humanity, God rescues the world by entering the human sphere in the life of Jesus Christ. Now, moving back to after the resurrection, someone is worthy.  

Now notice the difference between the fifth and sixth verses. Do you catch the humor? In the fifth verse, John’s encouraged to look at the lion. But in the sixth, he sees a lamb. He expects to see a raging lion who has conquered evil by brute force. Instead, we see a sacrificed lamb.^[6] God didn’t choose to conquered evil by physical strength; rather, God chose to submit to evil through Jesus’ death on the cross. This sacrificial act shows the limitation of evil’s power. Jesus’ resurrection conquers death and demonstrates evil impotence. “Victory through sacrifice” is the central theme of the New Testament revelation.^[7]

It’s important for us to remember when John witnesses this vision, the church faced mortal danger. John’s vision isn’t to go and tell his fellow Christians that everything will be alright. They know good and well that things are grim. If something doesn’t happen, they may all be exterminated. What John’s vision does for his readers is to assure them of God’s control. In the end God, through Jesus Christ, will reign triumphantly over evil and death and destruction. There may be suffering and persecution here on earth, but in heaven, they’re already celebrating victory won over evil when Jesus rose from the grave.

The lamb envisioned in Revelation 5 is a little weird. Seven horns, seven eyes (just like the seven seals). This isn’t to be taken a literally as to how Jesus Christ looks. As we’ve seen in the first five chapters of Revelation, seven represents perfection and holiness. These are the attributes assigned to the lamb representing Jesus Christ. With seven eyes, the lamb sees all. With seven horns, lamb isn’t just a helpless lamb, but a powerful ram able to protect those within his flock.

So, Jesus Christ, the sacrificed lamb, takes the scroll. God’s plan moves forward. Having defeated death on the cross, Jesus Christ sets out to free the universe of all evil. This causes song upon songs to rise throughout heaven. Christ, the Lamb of God, is praised. He inaugurates a new era.

Think about this for a minute… Christ has in his possession the scroll containing the future. But we are only in the fifth chapter of the book of Revelation. There are 17 more chapters. There are stories of galactic battles and martyrs to come; at this point Christ who has mortally defeated evil has not yet fully conquered it.  

Evil is still present in the world. We know that. We’ve seen it this week when Russia attacked a maternity hospital and apartment complexes in Ukraine. And we see it in the Congo when Islamic Nation terrorists attack and kill students at a Christian school. We saw it last year in Israel, when Palestinians attacked a concert in Israel. And we continue to witness it in Gaza as Israel destroys hospitals, attacks relief distribution centers, and starves the residents. We see it in the face of dead children. Whichever of these situations you pick, there are dead children. It should break our hearts and cause us to cry out to God, “how long, O Lord, how long.” 

We don’t understand why God allows such evil to happen. The question of why, if God is all-powerful, God allows such evil, has been around for thousands of years. The rabbis debated this question in Jesus’ day. The book of Job, written to help us wrestle with this problem, leaves us with what many consider an unsatisfactory answer. 

In Job’s search, he encounters God and comes away only with a sense of God’s awe and power.^[8] He learns it’s impossible for us to fully understand the Creator. Yet, we’re called to sing. We know the future. We know what happens, but also what will happen. So, we join the multitude singing praises and trusting in the goodness of a God who raised Jesus from the dead.

Think about the choir in Revelation 5. The singing begins with the four living creatures who guard the throne and the twenty-four harp strumming elders who represent the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles of the New Testament. Their music inspires a multitude of angels to join the chorus. And the angels inspire all creation to join in the song of praise. Doxology! “Praise God from whom all blessings flow!”

Now, was all of creation singing praises to God during John’s lifetime? Of course not. As I said earlier, time in this chapter is somewhat transitory. It moves quickly from before Christ’s victory over death to the complete fulfillment of God’s plan for creation at the end of history. We desire such a fulfillment, but its realization remains in the distance. But let’s not forget. We know the ending. We know who’s in charge and how history will end.

Friends, like those in this vision, our lives should be filled with the song of resurrection. May the song fill us with hope. Know that death is not the last word. Know that evil is not the last word. The risen Christ rules. A new world will come. Don’t despair. Rejoice! Amen. 

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^[1] Frederick Buechner, Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy & Fairy Tale (San Francisco: HarpersCollins, 1977), 7.  

^[2] https://fromarockyhillside.com/2025/07/27/worship-its-not-about-us/

^[3] Robert L. Reymond, The Lamb of God: The Bible’s Unfolding Revelation of Sacrifice (Mentor, 2006), 103.

^[4] Eugene H. Peterson, Reversed Thunder: The Revelation of John and the Praying Imagination (HarpersSanFrancisco: 1988), 64.

^[5] John 1:9.

^[6] M. Eugene Boring, Revelation: Interpretation, A Biblical Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1989), 108. 

^[7] Robert H. Mounce, The Book of Revelation, revised, (Grand Rapids: MI: Eerdmans, 1997), 132.

^[8] Job 38-41.